Daytrotter

A quick plug for a site that does things right (and has been generating a lot of buzz this year). The Daytrotter folks have established a reputation as the perfect pit stop for touring bands to lay down a few tracks. The "About" section of the site says it best:

"These fine people – as they’re traveling through America’s heartland – take two hours out of their travels between shows to stop in for a Daytrotter Session at Futureappletree Studio One in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The name of the city is not ironic. They use borrowed instruments, play with their touring mates, utilize a often unkempt toilet, eat some food and then cram back into their vans for the last half of the drive. What they leave behind is a pile of ashes, sometimes a forgotten stocking hat and four absolutely collectible songs that often impart on whomever listens to them the true intensity that these musicians put into their art, sometimes with more clarity than they do when they have months to tinker with overdubs and experiments. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour – dirty and alive. We want you to make this your new home as it is ours. We promise that you will love it here."

I do love it there, at least the site itself--I can't speak for the unkempt toilet. The recordings tend to do what Daytrotter intends: They capture the essence of a song and an artist on that particular day. No blips or bleeps or walls of sound. Particular favorites of mine are recent sessions by The Mountain Goats, The National and David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion). The accompanying write-ups for the recordings are well-written and refreshingly unironic, and each mp3 comes with a custom illustration of the band embedded in the file.

Best of all, the four live tracks from each artist are free, and the performers are certainly aware of this. In an environment where many bloggers seem to have no qualms about leaking entire albums before a record is released, Daytrotter is a welcome alternative. Check out some tracks, and if you find a band you like, buy an album.